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When other geeks just won't doTue, 31 Mar 2015 14:00:35 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1Hidden Gems – Bullseye: Greatest Hitshttp://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=74085
http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=74085#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 14:00:35 +0000http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=74085With so many big names and big events plastered across the shelves of your LCS, sometimes great comics get left behind – buried in longboxes until someone comes along to find these Hidden Gems.

In recent weeks, we’ve been looking on the biggest eras in Daredeviland it brought to mind the excellent 2005 miniseries Bullseye: Greatest Hits. Daniel Way and Steve Dillon came together to tell the origin story that’s not really an origin story. Our story begins with Bullseye’s arresting agent and an ambitious profiler going deep underground to an NSA black site prison. Bullseye was captured after a having a seizure, but not before the agents could ascertain the location of the nuclear bombs he’d stolen. What follows is a great bit of procedural cat and mouse between Bullseye and the agents. He’s locked in a bulletproof, fireproof cell with his hands shackled and under a steady diet of stool softeners (just in case), but badass Agent Hoskins is hellbent on finding the truth.

Agent Baldry is going for the softer approach, trying to identify with Bullseye and getting into his head. He gets Bullseye to tell him stories about growing up in Queens, playing professional baseball and becoming an NSA operative. By the book’s end, it’s unclear what (if anything) he said is true. A lot of what he says directly conflicts established history for the character, but we know so little about him that maybe bits and pieces of this are legit. That’s what makes the story work. It’s an excellent isolated miniseries with the requisite cameos from The Punisher, Elektra and Daredevil all built around some truly phenomenal dialogue and pitch-perfect art from Steve Dillon. It’s the kind of story he’s born to draw.

Slick, clean art, excellent dialogue and a really cool story with a killer twist makes it easy to give Bullseye: Greatest Hits 4 out of 5 missing teeth. There’s just enough “Is this all bullsh*t?” to make it a lot of fun without getting annoying by the end. If it fell under your radar, it’s worth finding a cheap copy or hitting Comixology to check this one out.

]]>http://www.panelsonpages.com/?feed=rss2&p=740850The Daredevil Deliberation: Andy Diggle and Shadowlandhttp://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=74070
http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=74070#commentsFri, 27 Mar 2015 15:30:54 +0000http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=74070Welcome back for another great conversation in the Daredevil Deliberation. Every week leading up to the debut of the Daredevil series on Netflix, we’ll be bringing you a look at a different famous run on the comic series. Today we’re looking at the work of writer Andy Diggle.

Kelly Harrass: For as much as I dislike making negative posts on this site, we kind of have to do one here. If we’re talking about major Daredevil runs, we have to cover this. While it was short, the Andy Diggle run is important because it featured the Daredevil centered event; Shadowland. It’s also important because it was the first time that Daredevil had been actively bad in quite a number of years. You would think that the story of Daredevil running the Hand would be awesome, but it really wasn’t.

Lee Rodriguez: There was such huge potential here. I’ll go on record as saying that it started off ok. After Brubaker left, Matt was in charge of the Hand. That’s a story I wanted to read. The first few issues of Diggle’s run were actually pretty good. The Hand underground resisting Matt’s leadership is a cool story and the art was absolutely gorgeous. I don’t think it really went to sh*t until Shadowland. This was Marvel at what was their most event-crazy. If I remember correctly, Shadowland was happening at the same time as Chaos War (starring, I sh*t you not, Hercules) and some other “big” event (maybe Fear Itself? I honestly can’t be bothered to look it up #Journalism). And make no mistake: this was absolutely an event comic. There were tie-ins and everything. For those of you playing along at home, take a minute and think about if the character we’ve been talking about the past month sounds like he should be the focal point of a comic book event story.

The answer is “no.”

And really, it might not have been so bad if it didn’t feel like they skipped a step somewhere. It felt like there was an arc missing. Matt became a murderous madman in the space between two issues. It was a big, BIG leap from hero to villain and we never really saw that transition.It was jarring, to say the least.

KH: Diggle’s run had a lot of potential. I really like the issues leading up to Shadowland. It almost feels like Shadowland was written by someone else. Nothing in this run feels organic because he’s rushing to get from point A to point B to meet whatever weird demands the publishing schedule had. I remember that Shadowland was up against another event, but I can’t remember which one it was. I know that Fear Itself came after because my hope was that event would end with the Man Without Fear returning to take down the God of Fear. Sadly that didn’t happen and Matt returned in a weird miniseries that we’ll get to later. I really have to wonder what Diggle’s run could have been if editorial hadn’t made an event out of this story. He was on track to make something really cool, but it all exploded so quickly. I don’t think I’ve ever soured on a creator’s work as fast as I did with Diggle’s Daredevil. I really think that there are parts of Shadowland that could have worked, but it was just surrounded by dumb. It should never be forgotten that Daredevil had a demon punched out of him.

LR: They basically gave him the Care Bear stare to save the day after the possessed Daredevil quoted Ghostbusters. It was ridiculous. And let’s just say again that the problem isn’t that Matt was corrupted. Daredevil could absolutely get to the point where he’d stab Bullseye on TV. It just came completely out of nowhere after years of truly amazing stories. They just had to make an event out of this and it broke the narrative, so much so that I almost didn’t come back for Mark Waid and Paolo Rivera’s relaunch. That’s how bad this was.

But you’re right about there being some good stuff in here. I do like a “let’s get some good guys together” story and the ragtag team that storms Shadowland (the name of the giant Japanese paper castle that was erected in New York City seemingly overnight) is a pretty rad group. It’s not all bad… But it’s mostly bad. It was so bad, in fact, that they ran Daredevil out of his own book for awhile. It became Black Panther: Man Without Fear for reasons I still cannot begin to understand while Matt did his best Rutger Hauer impression in Daredevil: Reborn.

KH: One thing that I enjoyed during Shadowland were the issues of the Daredevil ongoing that were running alongside it. Antony Johnston brought us some really solid comics looking at how DD’s supporting cast was responding to all of the Shadowland craziness. Johnston wrote the supporting cast very well and made their reactions to what was happening feel organic. I enjoyed these issues well enough that when I sold off my Shadowland books I kept the Johnston DD issues.

LR: Exactly. There’s a good story in there, but it got lost in the execution. It was great to see the supporting cast shine. They’d been such a huge part of the previous several years of stories (we’ve made mention of the strength of the supporting cast for weeks here) that they deserved the spotlight. It’s just a shame that it came as a result of this ridiculous story.

KH: I think Shadowland was made all the more disappointing because I was actually looking forward to it. Shadowland is really comparable to Axis. Both had really good lead ups to the stories and then the events themselves were just weird and bad. They both had pretty questionable art too.

LR: What’s more, there was zero follow-up in the main Daredevil title, even to this day. It came up a little, but not in any way that made sense given the sheer scale of Matt’s transgressions. It’s like everyone knew they should move along as fast as they possibly could, at least with regards to Daredevil. Shadowland ends with Fisk taking over the Hand and we saw the result of that in Spider-Man books both Amazing and Superior and in the aforementioned Hercules series, but it never came up in Daredevil, unless I’m completely spacing out.

KH: There was a little mention of the death of Bullseye around issue 25 of the Waid run (I think), but outside of that I can’t remember any examples.

LR: Oh, that’s right! I actually really liked that whole story, but even with Bullseye as the big bad mystery villain, they didn’t go deep into any Shadowland references.

KH: The Daredevil: Reborn series that came after Shadowland was so boring that I might have just blanked out any memories of it. I remember it wasn’t actively bad like Shadowland, but it wasn’t good either. It was like a boring DD western.

LR: Wherein he has a showdown with an evil blind guy on his path to becoming a good blind guy again himself. It was wholly unremarkable.

KH: This run kind of killed Andy Diggle’s Marvel career, didn’t it?

LR: It was definitely the last thing he ever did at Marvel. We can only speculate about the specifics as to why that is, but that much is a fact. To this day, he’s never written for Marvel since this trainwreck. He was on quite a roll, too. I loved his Thunderbolts stuff.

KH: After doing a little research, I discovered that Diggle wrote one more book at Marvel after Reborn. It was a miniseries called Six Guns that revamped a bunch of old western characters. The weird thing is that I remember reading this series when it came out because that was when I first started working at the comic shop and I was reading a whole lot of stuff just because I could.

LR: Whether is was a lack of planning, editorial mandate or just a good idea gone bad, Shadowland serves as one of the lone black spots in the past 15 years of Daredevil comics. The Joe Quesada Father miniseries is a little boring, but at least it wasn’t flat-out awful like this was. That’s a hell of a burden to carry with a writer. And make no mistake, this was a pretty big bust.

KH: I think I’ve realized what the main problems with Shadowland and Reborn are. The thing with Shadowland is that it’s too crazy. For as superhero-y Daredevil can get at times, when it’s great it is always grounded in something. Whether that be street crime of the 80’s, Catholic guilt, or a breakdown after the death of a loved one, it’s always grounded in something that feels real. Shadowland doesn’t have that. Matt gets possessed by a demon and it feels like the story loses its core. Matt kills Bullseye, but it’s not a dramatic moment of catharsis, it just sort of happens. The problem with Reborn is the exact opposite. It’s too grounded. It’s a straight up western and it really doesn’t have the superhero elements that it needed to be successful. This is very much a case of a writer that didn’t understand their main character.

LR: I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. Luckily, incoming writer Mark Waid brought some amazing artists with him and turned this chicken sh*t into chicken salad. Even so, I nearly dropped the book after this. Waid, Rivera and Martin had to win me over, and they did. Big time.

KH:And I think that’s a good place to leave off for today. Come back next week when we’ll be talking about the fantastic run of Mark Waid.

There’s not a lot that I can say about this comic without spoiling it, so this section will be fairly brief. This is a comic that talks to the reader. It starts with the cover and continues throughout. Ultimately, it’s a comic about comics. It’s exactly what we should have expected it to be. I’m not saying that it’s predictable, but for how Ultra Comics fits into the overarching Multiversity story, this is exactly what it had to be. We’ve been told since the first issue of Multiversity that Ultra Comics is cursed. This is the comic that makes everything go to hell. It’s an incredibly strange comic to read. There are a lot of voices in this comic and they’re all fighting for your attention. I really enjoyed reading this, but I would have a hard time recommending it to anyone because I don’t know how people will react to how this story is told. I think that you’ll either enjoy what Morrison is trying to do here or you’ll think it’s dumb and immediately tune out. Unlike past issues of Multiversity, you absolutely need to be reading the full series to care about it.

What is absolutely undeniably true about this book is that Doug Mahnke’s art is phenomenal. I feel like at least once a year I say “this is Mahnke’s best work yet,” but you know what? It’s true every time. Over the years, Mahnke’s work has only gotten better. Once again, this is his best work. Mahnke’s art is a major part of what helps sell the weirdness of the Morrison script. His linework is just so clean. Everything looks really slick. His action shots are fantastic and kinetic. His facial reactions are strong. I was blown away by this art. Even if you don’t enjoy the script, you’ll enjoy the art.

And that’s about all I can say without spoiling anything so let’s get into the analysis.

****SPOILERS TO FOLOW****

The easiest way to describe Ultra Comics is to say that this is what it would look like if a superhero comic became self-aware and had a mental breakdown. This is the comic that infects other universes with the Gentry and that’s solely what this comic does. In terms of story content, this really doesn’t illuminate much. More than anything, this elaborates further on Morrison’s meta narrative.

The opening of the issue had Ultra telling you that he transported himself to the beginning of the book and that you shouldn’t turn the page. More than anything, this is done to introduce you to the comic and prep you for how much the comic talks to you. From there we go to what I guess is the real opening of the comic. An unnamed host, who later reveals himself as Intellectron of the Gentry, tells us about how Ultra is created. When we get the reveal of Ultra on the title/credits page there’s a nice little touch. Ultra is attached to tubes pumping him with the four CMYK colors. If you don’t know about printing, those are the four colors that every color in color printing is made up of. I’m curious to know if the digital edition changed up the colors and were filling Ultra with RGB. If anybody knows, sound off in the comments.

Ultra is a man made of comics and this comic will install a program in your brain by reading it cover to cover. We get a montage of superhero behavior being downloaded into Ultra. The two page, four panel montage gives us Ultra from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. Here’s where I’m going to speak more generally about the comic as opposed to specific things like I have been. We see Ultra being worked on in a lab by several scientists. This really feels like Morrison is commenting on comics that seem to be created with a purpose of bringing in as many eyes as possible as opposed to trying to make art. The cursed comic is a comic made for everybody is what seems to be the message of this book. Ultra is deployed to stop a threat in a destroyed New York because everybody destroys New York.

Before we get the full reveal of the host as Intellectron, we see the host talking to us once again, but this time he has bat wings attached to his head. It’s a cool touch because they blend into the background and are really easy to miss if you’re not paying attention. Intellectron gives you one more chance to stop reading the book. You’re at fault for what happens if you continue to read the book, basically saying that the readers are the reason why these scientifically created comics exist. Two pages after that we get the first three caption boxes featuring “comments” from “readers.” These comments are the basic comments you get from anti-Morrison people, talking about “pretentious symbolism” and asking for a “simple adventure story for once.”

As the story continues, Ultra meets a group of kids and helps them carry a cube of great power to their base camp. At one point the cube is referred to as the Ultrabox and the transmatter cube, meaning that this is the Transmatter Symphonic Array of this universe. At the base camp, Ultra meets a couple other people who have also held the Ultra name. One of them is Ultra-Man, the golden age Superman analog of All-American Publications, and another is Ultra the Multi-Alien from the pre-Crisis Earth-1. We then find out that the camp of people Ultra wanted to save are, in fact, cannibals. They attack Ultra and put him into some kind of machine. This leads to a fight between Ultra and Ultraa, the first superhero of Earth-Prime. It’s actually not much of a fight at all, but you’ve read the book so you know what happened. The death of Ultraa at the “hands” of Ultra activates the cube and summons Intellectron. Once again, things really go to hell after the fall of a Superman figure.

Intellectron blasts Ultra with his eye, turning him into an old man. The bottom of that page subverts several of the past pages, telling you to turn the page because they said so. Intellectron says “Where once were palaces and spaceships only charnel houses and brothels remained. Impoverished.” The poison of the Gentry can thrive in a world bankrupt of original ideas, living off the old bones. Ultra teleports to the front of the book and then back to the fight against Intellectron. Ultra says that Intellectron has be eaten by Ultra Comics and is pure text, something that is vulnerable to criticism. We get more critical comments from “readers,” which to me means that Morrison doesn’t disregard the criticism of his comics.

Intellectron overpowers the criticism and essentially says that as long as you’re still reading, your criticism means nothing. A narration voice that we haven’t seen before says “there was only ever one way to close the trap on the HIT,” which is to say that the only way to have beaten the Gentry here was to listen to the cover and not read the book. At this point, it’s too late. The person reading the comic has been infected by the Gentry. They’re here and it’s all our fault.

Next month: We can see the finish line from here. It’s the supersized finale; Multiversity issue 2.

]]>http://www.panelsonpages.com/?feed=rss2&p=740600Better Late Than Never – Lazarus, Vol. 1: Familyhttp://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=73980
http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=73980#commentsWed, 25 Mar 2015 13:00:31 +0000http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=73980With so much awesome stuff coming out all the time, sometimes it takes a while to catch up. Maybe you’re reading a big event awhile after it ended. Maybe you just caught a movie everyone was talking about a few months ago. So what? It’s Better Late Than Never.

Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Michael Lark with Stefano Gaudiano and Brian Level
Colors by Santi Arcas
Published by Image Comics

Tyrranical dystopian futures have become a pretty standard trope in modern fiction lately. Given the popularity of the Hunger Games and Divergent book and film series, it seems that most visions of the future in current pop culture are less than rosy. This mentality continues in Lazarus, the current ongoing series from Image Comics written by Greg Rucka and drawn mostly by Michael Lark. Having finally read the first trade of Lazarus, which collects the first four issues of the comic as well as a four-page short story originally published in the Diamond Previews catalog, I can definitely see why it has gotten such near-widespread acclaim from readers and critics alike, even though it hasn’t quite done anything significantly original with the premise just yet.

Lazarus takes place in an as-yet-undisclosed era in the future in which all governments have been disbanded and the world’s total regions and resources are in control of a handful of wealthy and powerful families, all of whom maintain a rather shaky and unstable relationship with one another. If violence breaks out between the families or within their own territories, each ruling group has an unkillable enforcer known as a Lazarus whom they treat as part of their own family in exchange for keeping the peace. The main heroine of the comic is Forever Carlyle, the Lazarus in charge of maintaining order within her family’s large territory in Southern California. As shown in the opening sequence of the trade, Forever is quite skilled and dangerous in combat and, while she is able to bleed and feel pain, she is virtually impossible to kill. Despite these qualities, she is not a mindless agent of destruction, as shown early on when she expresses remorse after being forced to execute a suspected saboteur by her self-centered and devious “brother” Jonah. As this first volume continues, the reader learns more about the Carlyles and their tensions with a rival family in Mexico, whom Jonah and his sister / lover Johanna plan to use Forever to unwittingly start a war with in hopes of wresting control of the family from their father. After surviving an attempt on her life that was intended to look like an attack from the rival faction, Forever learns a little bit about her true identity and status within the Carlyle family and that she has been lied to by the very same people whom she has been brought up to love, trust, and protect.

Plot-wise, the first trade of Lazarus doesn’t offer much in the realm of originality. The idea of having the world controlled by a number of powerful families who are often at odds with one another is not too far removed from a number of Mafia stories or even that of J.R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series and its TV counterpart, Game Of Thrones. We even have a scheming incestuous couple here just like Jaime and Cersai Lannister. What makes this volume such a satisfying read is Greg Rucka’s impressive world building and Michael Lark’s always fantastic artwork, which provides at least one visually impressive action scene per issue that conveys a strong sense of movement within the still panels of the comic page. Instead of immediately explaining the details of the world that Lazarus takes place in, Rucka slowly reveals them through the actions and dialogue of the characters, respecting the readers’ intelligence by not spelling everything out at once. By doing this, he does a nice job in easing the reader into this world and getting them on Forever’s side, as they discover the truth behind her status within the family and in this world at about the same time she does.

Image gets so much press nowadays for putting out such original and innovative fare like Saga and Sex Criminals that their more conventional but still high-quality genre books sometimes get ignored. Luckily, Lazarus has been consistently well-received since its debut in late 2013 and, judging from the quality of its first trade collection, that reception is justified. It’s not trying to reinvent the wheel or even say anything new about the genre in which its story is told, but it does provide some genuine thrills with wonderful artwork and a protagonist that is simultaneously badass and sympathetic. I can’t wait to get caught up on this highly enjoyable series. Lazarus, Volume 1: Family earns 4.5 out of 5 Self-Requested Beat-Downs.

]]>http://www.panelsonpages.com/?feed=rss2&p=739800Holy Crap! Remember… The Tick?http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=74037
http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=74037#commentsMon, 23 Mar 2015 13:00:08 +0000http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=74037Ah, nostalgia! Be it that old cartoon, a favorite toy or a comic book from days gone by, isn’t it great, when out of the blue, the memories come flooding back, and you’ve no choice but to exclaim “Holy Crap! Remember?”

The cast of The Tick.

No, not the cartoon. Everyone remembers the iconic cartoon based on the comic character the Tick and his unusual allies and enemies created by Ben Edlund. I’m talking about the live action sitcom that aired all too briefly on Fox in late 2001 and early 2002. With Edlund serving as one of the executive producers, alongside others including Barry Sonnenfeld, best known for directing the Men in Black and Addams Family films, the show’s quirkiness endeared it to critics and won it a cult following. Following the lives of four superheroes, it didn’t often show them fighting crime, but dealt with their day-to-day lives (or lack thereof) between bouts of heroism.

I challenge you to find any part as perfectly cast as Patrick Warburton as the Tick. (J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson is also an acceptable answer.) With his large frame, handsomely clueless face, booming voice and comedic sensibilities, I’m fairly certain he was genetically created in a laboratory in order to play Tick. And though the Tick’s devotion to justice is unshakable, his grasp on reality is not quite as firm. His speeches, most notably in the episode “The Funeral,” are one of a kind, and Warburton delivers each line with the perfect blend of sincerity and bombastic haminess. Much more down to earth, which is funny since he’s the only character who can fly (well, glide) is his sidekick Arthur (David Burke). Burke plays the everyman (everymoth?) against Warburton extremely well, and you can see Arthur is equally in awe of and embarrassed by his Big Blue Buddy. Burke as Arthur grounds the show with his levelheadedness when it’s about to go too far off the rails. The duo are aided, when it suits his purposes, by the pseudo-suave Batmanuel, smarmily played by Nestor Carbonell, who’d funnily go on to play Mayor Garcia in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. Batmanuel may see himself as a cool guy, but he’s more like a spoiled child when he doesn’t get his way. Finally there’s Captain Liberty (Liz Vassey), the government sponsored heroine who at first appears to be possibly the most competent hero of them all, but turns out to be an adorably neurotic mess underneath her tough exterior. Liberty and Batmanuel have an on-again/off-again thing that sees them flinging insults at each other on a near constant basis.

This one picture sums the series up perfectly.

Like I said before, the series isn’t about our heroes actually fighting crime, but their everyday lives. So the audience doesn’t see the battle against Apocalypse Cow, just the aftermath. The defeat of Destroyo is overlooked in favor of the trial that follows. The Tick cramps Arthur’s chances with a high school crush (Missi Pyle!) and later Arthur’s family commit him to a rehabilitation facility (run by the always hilarious Dave Foley) due to his current, uh, lifestyle choices. Ron Perlman drops by as the heroic Friendly Fire in an episode that equates heroic partnerships to marriage. The costume and make-up people deserve special props, as well. I’m quite familiar with both Kurt Fuller and Armin Shimerman from Ghostbusters II/Wayne’s World and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, respectively. And yet I didn’t even recognize Fuller as Destroyo and Shimerman as The Terror until the end credits.

Unfortunately, The Tick didn’t last very long. A combination of a lengthy, expensive shooting schedule, a shitty time slot, and very little promotion from Fox defeated our heroes when no supervillains could. A total of nine episodes were filmed and only eight of them were aired. Maybe, much like Mystery Men before it, it was just ahead of its time. The Tick still has its fans and the series is still fondly remembered by both cast and crew. (Sonnenfeld called the pilot “the best thing I’ve ever directed” in 2009.) Perhaps one of the most positive things to come out of it was Warburton meeting writer Christopher McCulloch, aka Jackson Publick, who went on to cast the former as uber-badass Brock Samson in a little show he co-created called The Venture Bros. Heck, it’s even been theorized, by Edlund himself I believe, that The Tick, Venture Bros. and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog all take place in the same universe. Now there’s a triple crossover I’d love to see.

1950s Britain, the UK is covered in a poisonous gas but society struggles on, confident in the belief that nothing important has really changed. The Fitzroy Comic explores this world through six twisted tales of death, mayhem and the finest tea from the darkest edges of the British Isles.

Such is the premise of The Fitzroy, an anthology of black humor and other dark tropes from Dead Canary Comics. While a little uneven in quality, The Fitzroy emerges as a book that spotlights its universe in overall solid form and warrants a look, for sure.

In Blatherington Manor, CS Baker and Kent Able chronicle Forbes as he keeps the Lord of Blatherington Manor busy – and unaware of the fate of Great Britain in the war. Able’s art has a touch of Robert Crumb influence to give these proceedings a hint of satire. Contrasting this, the brevity by Baker and final page reveal of this tale by both contain a punch of melancholy and near-sadness in seeing the Lord of the Manor so proud of his country that is in so much despair without him even knowing it.

The next story by CS Baker, Matt Fitch and Scott Cooper – The Hammer – is interesting enough but a step down from the previous yarn. The Hammer is a crime tale set in this world that brings quite a bit of potential but not as much living up to said promise. The Gene Colan-influenced linework by Scott Cooper carries this tale with a mediocre payoff (taken with the overall premise) to something better than it has a right to be.

L’Aventure de Claude et Marcel by Matt Fitch, Andrew Farmer and Will Kirkby redeems this anthology with a quirky tale devoid of dialogue. Claude and Marcel play out a deadly game in a hot air balloon above the war-affected nation in fascinating fashion.

Dig by CS Baker & Will Robson present a salesman and a couple that should remind followers of the most recent episode of Gotham of the duo that lived at the old farm. Only much, much, more sinister. The Darrow-esque detail by Will Robson puts this over the top as one of the best stories here.

Jonsin’ by Paul Clark-Forse and Patrik Lindberg is all black humor, and all of it well done. The yarn of a man who refuses to be outdone by his neighbor is another standout here. Brilliant work by both creators.

The final story of this twisted world, The Can by CS Baker & Charlie Hodgson ends The Fitzroy with a grain of hope combined with how those who loved football may continue the tradition in this desolate world. Another story without dialog, this one risks some confusion but makes for that with splendid art.

All in all, The Fitzroy leaves the reader (or at least this reviewer) wanting to see more of this twisted world. Some stories shine while some falter, but overall the book offers a good look at the talent pool on the other side of the pond and what they have to offer. The Fitzroy earns 3.5 out of 5 Gas Masks.

The Daredevil Deliberation is back with another great discussion. Every week leading up to the release of the Daredevil series on Netflix we’ll be looking at an important run in DD’s history. This week we’re looking at the work of writer, Ed Brubaker.

Lee Rodriguez: After being outed in the press and ducking the allegations for years (and suffering a mental breakdown along the way), Matt Murdock was arrested and incarcerated at the tail end of the legendary Bendis/Maleev run. Incoming writer Ed Brubaker (who was super hot thanks to his equally legendary Captain America run) and artist Michael Lark had to pick up those pieces. The very first story of their run turned into a prison break team-up between Daredevil and the Punisher. It is brilliant.

Matt’s still reeling from the sh*tstorm his life has become, but Brubaker injected a little fun back into old hornhead. He did a little globetrotting along the way and overall it wasn’t so dour, at least in the beginning. It was a slight shift in tone without making light of what came before it. Ben mentioned last week that this was one of the best creative team handoffs in comics, and he’s totally right. If you didn’t know it was a new writer, it would be easy to believe it was just an artist change.

Ben Gilbert: This was my formal introduction to Ed Brubaker after reading for years about his greatness. Based on the quality of his work on Daredevil, I then went back and read a lot of his Captain America run, as well as Criminal, Sleeper, Gotham Central, and pretty much anything else that had his name on it. That’s how impressed I was with his work here.

Bendis did some wonderful stuff with the character, but I’d put Brubaker on equal footing with him. Both of them definitely belong on the “Daredevil Writer Mount Rushmore” along with Frank Miller and Stan Lee (although a case can definitely be made for Mark Waid as well, as we’ll discuss in a couple of weeks). And Michael Lark….just wow. He pretty much matched the quality of Maleev’s work while giving the book his own distinct style that matched the slight changes in tone that Brubaker brought to the comic. Last week’s discussion was pretty much a gush-fest, and I’m pretty sure this one will be no different.

LR: There are a lot of little things in the beginning of the run that I absolutely love. Before getting into the big Mr. Fear plot, Matt escapes prison and jets off to Europe where he fights the friggin’ Matador and that makes me smile just thinking about it. I also love the notion of Iron Fist running around in a Daredevil costume while Matt’s locked up just to help throw the authorities off his scent. It’s the kind of camaraderie we don’t get enough of in comics. Sure, we see the Avengers being partners and teammates, Danny and Matt are friends. Brubaker does a lot of great work with the supporting cast in his run, much like Bendis. This was actually my first exposure to Dakota North. Brubaker and Lark take their time setting the stage and putting their particular pieces on the board, but never at the expense of the story.

Kelly Harrass: I’m just thinking about all the great stuff in this run and Brubaker did an awesome job here. I really love that he kept the darkness and crime elements of the Bendis run, but he also brought back the more swashbuckling elements of Daredevil. For as dark as things got, this is a really fun and exciting comic. A prime example of this early on in the run is when Brubaker writes the greatest Punisher scene in history. The Punisher finds out that Matt’s in prison so he breaks a pimp’s neck in front of a cop so he’ll get arrested and go to prison too. It’s an amazing scene because of how funny it is and how very dark it is.

Much like Bendis’ run was a crime story in a superhero world, the Brubaker run is a noir story in a superhero world. A couple years back, Brubaker used to tweet out little noir lessons and I remember him saying that noir is about the sense of impending doom in the story. This run absolutely has that feeling all through it.

LR: The dread is palpable, yes. There’s this feeling of something truly dark and awful on the horizon, and there’s a huge payoff. You’re totally right about it being a noir story, too. There’s a lot more investigating and what I call “black and white” moments (because they’d be perfect shot in black and white). It’s no surprise given Brubaker’s love of the genre. One of the best bits is very early on with the ultimate femme fatale who smells like whatever brings you the most comfort. That sense association gives her sway over the men around her and it’s very cool touch.

KH: I totally forgot about that character! God, there are so many great little things in this run. One of my favorite issues in this run is #94. That’s the one that’s looking at Milla and Matt’s relationship exclusively from Milla’s point of view. It’s so well done and I really like how Brubaker pretty much made an issue that was Daredevil through the lens of a romance comic. That might actually be one of my favorite single issues ever.

LR: Now see? I forgot about that. There’s so much amazing stuff like that in here. We talked a bit last week about Milla and she has a lot of facetime during this run. Unfortunately, life catches up with her. You don’t get to marry Matt Murdock and not have something terrible happen to you. Milla’s fall and the impact it has on Matt is absolutely heartbreaking. I was writing Daredevil recaps for Wizard at the time, so I was reading these issues a week ahead of time and the wait until release was grueling. I remember being taken aback repeatedly over the depth of Mr. Fear’s plan.

KH: Has Mr. Fear, before or after this run, ever been this threatening of a villain? Because I can’t think of any examples. Brubaker did an amazing job building him up.

BG: Not since what Bendis did for Purple Man in Alias has a villain been given as effective a revamp as what Brubaker did with Mr. Fear. I love how he brought back some of Matt’s old foes and made them legitimate threats instead of just sticking with the Kingpin. Of course, one wonders if this was out of necessity, since Bendis’ run pretty much took care of Fisk for a while, but Brubaker was definitely up for the challenge. It got to the point where, when Fisk does return at the tail end of the run, it’s actually a surprise.

LR: Yeah, taking Fisk off the board was great. Daredevil doesn’t have quite the decorated rogues gallery of Batman or Spider-Man (with all due respect to Stilt-Man), so it was cool to see some of these guys get the dust blown off of them and come back as a legitimate threat.

KH: Not only did Brubaker bring Mr. Fear a top level villain, he also made Dakota North into a great supporting cast member. Her relationship with Matt becomes more complicated as the book goes on, which can really be said with Matt’s relationship with any woman. She’s actually my favorite character in the second half of the run. I’d still love for Marvel to hire Brubaker or Greg Rucka to write a Dakota North ongoing.

LR: And she just kind of disappeared. For as much as I love Mark Waid’s run, I definitely miss Dakota and Becky Blake, another old school supporting cast member Brubaker brought back. I believe they were both around for Diggle’s run, but I’ve blocked a lot of that out and need to brush up before next week.

Brubaker picked up the ball and ran with it in a big way with stories that feel like Daredevil stories. The scope was perfectly in line with the character. This trend was totally shattered less than a year later, but we’ll get into that next week. We talked about the ballsy move of Bendis leaving with Matt going to prison. Brubaker’s exit was equally ballsy with Matt taking control of the Hand (a plot that was masterfully executed). It’s a really great idea that was executed… less than great.

BG: Spoilers for next week, but I haven’t read a single page of Diggle’s run, mostly because I didn’t want anything to tarnish the greatness of Brubaker’s run for me after I finally completed it. And what an ending it was. I can’t decide whether Bendis or Brubaker ended their respective stories with a more compelling change for Matt Murdock. It really is a tough choice between the two. It really bummed me out when I heard how badly Diggle botched what Brubaker set up, because it had the potential to be fantastic. Still, I guess that’s the risk you take when you change writers on a book that was consistently wonderful for damn near a decade straight. Thank God for Mark Waid, though.

KH: The ending of the Brubaker run is pretty fantastic. It feels like a more extreme version of Matt declaring himself the Kingpin of Hells Kitchen. It’s especially great because becoming leader of the Hand isn’t something that Matt really wanted, but he wanted to make sure that Kingpin couldn’t do it. Even though Matt became leader because it was the right thing to do, you know that he also did it just to spite Kingpin.

BG: This run is also noteworthy for showing how Brubaker can take a somewhat dubious idea and do something great with it. In his Captain America run, he brought Bucky back and made him the Winter Soldier. In his Daredevil run, he introduced Lady Bullseye and made her a credible and interesting villain.

LR: Lady Bullseye has had some very impressive staying power. She’s still a regular face in Marvel comics nearly 10 years later.

KH: This run really is a celebration of everything that’s made Daredevil great over the years. You’ve got the noir and crime aspects that Miller and Bendis did so well, but it’s also very much a superhero comic. In some way or another they touch on almost every major DD villain from over the years. Matt’s supporting cast really gets an opportunity to shine here too. This might really be Brubaker’s strongest superhero work.

LR: Come back next week for basically the exact opposite of this. I honestly don’t know if I’m excited or completely dreading it.

BG: Good luck with all that, gents. See y’all in two weeks to talk about good comics again.

Next week: Andy Diggle takes Daredevil to the Shadowland.

]]>http://www.panelsonpages.com/?feed=rss2&p=740130Hidden Gems: The Big Changehttp://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=73870
http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=73870#commentsThu, 19 Mar 2015 13:00:39 +0000http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=73870With so many big names and big events plastered across the shelves of your LCS, sometimes great comics get left behind – buried in longboxes until someone comes along to find these Hidden Gems.

Written by Jim Starlin
Art by Berni Wrightson
Published by Marvel Comics

During the highly influential decade of the 1980’s, Marvel provided a great deal of innovation and originality to the industry. One of its most beloved contributions was their ongoing series of original graphic novels that began in 1982 and continued throughout the decade. Some of these graphic novels told important stories that affected the Marvel Universe in significant ways, such as The Death of Captain Marvel, while others used the genre of superhero comics to make poignant comments on important global issues, such as Emperor Doom or X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills. Despite the added importance that were usually given to these oversized and lavishly presented editions, there were tales provided in this format that were just plain fun, as the 1987 Marvel OGN The Big Change proved. This highly enjoyable intergalactic caper starring The Incredible Hulk and The Thing was written by the legendary Jim Starlin and drawn by the equally legendary Berni Wrightson and provided a lighthearted change of pace from the usual sense of gravitas and high significance that were usually heaped on these editions.

The Big Change is narrated by Uatu The Watcher, who weaves a tale in which the two super-strong rivals are both transported to a distant planet named Matriculon by an alien politician named Stamben Malalet. Once both the Thing and the Hulk are transported to Matriculon, Malelet charges them with retrieving an important document from a nefarious crime lord in exchange for the fulfillment of two wishes. Hopeful that this wish can finally change both him and the Hulk to their human forms for good, The Thing accepts the offer, convincing his less-than-idealistic counterpart to join him with the promise of “a good time”. They initially disguise themselves in order to blend in with the local species, with Grimm donning a cloak and the Hulk simply knocking out a small creature resembling an octopus and wearing it on his head. The two then embark on a madcap journey throughout Matriculon that results in them having to fight their way through several absurd obstacles until finally having to battle a creature that resembles a grotesque amalgam of the two of them. After successfully completing their mission, the two heroes are granted their wishes, though the Hulk’s oblivious eagerness ruins The Thing’s noble endgame and sends them back home in exactly the same form as they were when they left.

After years of crafting some of Marvel’s most significant cosmic-themed stories, Starlin has a blast with just cutting loose and penning a fun, breezy space romp starring the company’s most unlikely duo, while Wrightson’s highly detailed and wonderfully evocative art effortlessly brings the world of Matriculon to life while simultaneously adding to the fast-paced humor of the story. Starlin models The Big Change after the classic buddy road comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope or Abbot and Costello, with Ben Grimm playing the ever-exasperated straight man to The Hulk’s incompetent man-child. Nearly every hitch in The Thing’s plan to fulfill their mission is caused in some part by The Hulk’s outright refusal to follow orders and try to blend in with their alien surroundings, and once their mission is complete, The Hulk’s utter obliviousness to the potential significance of their reward completely ruins Ben’s overall goal. There is also a hilarious twist regarding the main thrust of the mission, which is revealed to not be as important as our heroes were led to believe and pretty much turns out to be a Mcguffin in its purest form. This big reveal provides a brief moment of subtle social commentary in what is otherwise a big, entertaining comic thrill ride.

Reading The Big Change nearly thirty years after its initial publication is a real treat during an era in which most cosmic-themed superhero tales are given much more significance and length and are mostly treated with utmost seriousness within that company’s superhero universe. Conversely, this graphic novel tells a tight, concise standalone tale in 64 pages that doesn’t have any higher significance within the entire Marvel Universe but is still given a prestige format and is lovingly rendered by two of the best creators in the business at the peak of their careers. It is definitely the kind of story that should be told more often in this current era of mainstream superhero comics and hopefully will be once Marvel is done with all this Secret Wars business. 5 out of 5 Poorly Conceived Wishes.

]]>http://www.panelsonpages.com/?feed=rss2&p=738700Ring of Honor 3/13 Live Show Reporthttp://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=74003
http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=74003#commentsWed, 18 Mar 2015 16:30:03 +0000http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=74003This past Friday, March 13th 2015, I attended a Ring of Honor live event at the Turner Hall Ballroom in Milwaukee. ROH comes to town about once every six months and I’m always in the crowd, usually in the same seat too. I was accompanied by my girlfriend and my parents at the show as I have been for every ROH visit since July of 2013. It’s a nice little tradition we have and I love any tradition that involves wrestling.

To kick things off there was a preshow match featuring six unnamed wrestlers in a trios tag match. It was a pretty solid outing from the guys and I actually wish I knew their names. I’m pretty ignorant of Milwaukee area indies so most local talent is unknown to me. A guy sitting behind us said that one of the guys in the match was Davey Vega of the Submission Squad and after looking into it, turns out that he was right. I’m not hugely familiar with Vega, but from what I’ve seen he’s pretty talented and I’d like to see him do more in ROH.

Once the ring was cleared the ring announcer for the night, Scarlet Bordeaux, made her entrance and proceeded to fire the crowd up for a show opening when this inevitably ends up on ROH TV. I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out Scarlet’s rad Captain Marvelesque hairdo and her, in my girlfriend’s words, “scandalous” top. I’ll get this out of the way now, don’t be the guy at a wrestling show chanting at a woman’s breasts. We need less of those guys.

The official show started off with ROH newcomer, Ayra Daivari, taking on Roderick Strong. Daivari got a lot of heat from the crowd for choosing to dance instead of wrestling in the opening minutes of the match. He was one of many new faces that we’d see in the ring over the course of the night. At one point the pair messed up a spot which caused Strong to get caught up in the ropes. This drew a “you f**ked up” chant from the crowd. Strong then dove through the ropes and hit a particularly brutal dropkick on Daivari, sending him hard into the barricade. I heard Strong say “I f**ked up, huh?” as he got back to his feet. Shortly after that, Strong picked up the win via submission with the Stronghold.

The next match saw Will Ferrara (who I literally know nothing about) pick up a DQ win over Milwaukee native Silas Young. I’ve seen Young work pretty much every indie show that I’ve ever been to and he just keeps getting more and more over with the crowd. He can crap on his hometown all he wants, but we’ll never boo him. Silas Young is great, but this match was just ok. For the length that it went, I wasn’t really happy with the result. This was followed up by Mark Briscoe defeating the Brew City Bruiser. I don’t think that I was ever this bored at an ROH show. It was one of the Briscoe’s versus a guy whose gimmick is beer, there are few wrestling matches that I could be less interested in.

Photo by Ricky Havlik

After that, things kicked into gear with Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer of The Decade taking on the debuting Roppongi Vice, Rocky Romero and (Trent) Berretta. This match was a little longer than I would have liked, but it was pretty great. Romero and Berretta have really good chemistry as a tag team. My mom was absolutely disgusted at the fact that I was cheering for the team against Jimmy Jacobs. I’m a huge Jacobs fan, but come on, I have to go with the team that has a shout out to Chuck Taylor in their entrance music. I’m hoping to see a lot more of RPG Vice in ROH and I’m really looking forward to their IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Title shot against the Young Bucks at Invasion Attack. RPG Vice hit their tag team finisher, which I don’t know the name of, on Jacobs to pick up the win. While Jacobs lost here, he did win the award for best pants of the night. On the way to the restaurant in the venue (they have a really good fish fry), we saw Jacobs walking out of the parking structure wearing a pair of hot pink pants that I only wish that I could pull off. Pink is really a color that works for that guy. And with that we went into intermission.

When things come back we get a promo from Matt Taven leading into a match where he beat Cheeseburger. This made me realize how good Taven actually is on the mic. I feel like most times that I’ve seen him he’s either had Truth Martini or Maria as a mouthpiece, but he really doesn’t need it. Taven won in a fairly quick squash match that got the crowd back into the show.

Next up was the first of two fantastic matches on the show. Michael Elgin took on Josh Alexander in an incredibly stiff match. These two went to war and completely blew away the crowd. I’m not super familiar with Alexander and I’ve only seen him wrestle a select few times before. Most of the fans hadn’t seen Alexander before and a chant of “let’s go new guy” rang out through Turner Hall. I had no idea that this match was on the card so I was pleasantly surprised when it was starting. It really felt like Alexander might pull out the win a couple of times, but that victory wasn’t in the cards. Elgin pinned Alexander after some strikes, including a sick backhand, and a stiff lariat. I think this match might actually end up on my list of year end favorites. Hopefully this will end up on ROH TV so everyone can see it.

Photo by Ricky Havlik

What followed that match was something special. Samoa Joe took on ACH in a match that was everything that I wanted it to be. Samoa Joe is one of my favorite wrestlers ever, but he was on TNA for so long that I haven’t actually watched him wrestle in a couple years. I had heard that over the years he had become unmotivated and wasn’t what he used to be. What I saw on Friday was the Joe of old. If you watch Joe’s past work in ROH or his early work in TNA, he was absolutely amazing. That Joe is back and he and ACH put on quite a show. Joe is at his best when he has a smaller flippy guy to work with and ACH fits that perfectly. Milwaukee is a hot crowd for ROH every time, but the reaction that Joe got was next level. This match had an energy that few matches that I’ve seen live have had. There was just a feeling in the air that this was something special. The only thing I can compare it to is watching then WWE US Champion Daniel Bryan fight Jon Moxley at a Dragon Gate show. ACH put in a valiant effort, but Joe pinned him after hitting a Muscle Buster. ROH would be insane not to put this match on TV.

Photo by Ricky Havlik

In our main event the ROH Tag Team Champions reDRagon, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly, defeated ROH World Champion Jay Briscoe and ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal. I feel like this is the second show in a row where ROH has put the wrong match in the main event. The last time they expected a match between Michael Elgin and Silas Young to follow an incredible tag team match between the Young Bucks and the Briscoes (remember, the only way you can follow the Young Bucks is on Twitter). This time around they expected this Champions Challenge match to be able to follow Joe vs. ACH and it just couldn’t. The crowd was burnt out at this point and while it was a pretty good match, it just wasn’t up to the same quality of what came before it. And this is coming from me. I LOVE reDRagon. I’ve been behind those guys since I was one of three or four people cheering for them in Turner Hall. They just weren’t in a place on the card where they could succeed.

As the fans were leaving the venue, some idiot thought it’d be a good idea to jump in the ring while the crew wasn’t looking. It turns out, they were looking and he was quickly chased away. Once again, don’t be that guy. Overall the show was fun with two matches really standing out on the card. If ROH is in your town I very much recommend paying them a visit, I’ve never had a bad time at an ROH show.

]]>http://www.panelsonpages.com/?feed=rss2&p=7400306 Comics-to-Screen Miracles on “The Flash”http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=73927
http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=73927#commentsTue, 17 Mar 2015 14:30:52 +0000http://www.panelsonpages.com/?p=73927The PoP! Stars narrow it down to the cream of the crop in categories ranging from (but not limited to) Comics, Movies, Toys and Geek Culture in general. This is the PoP! Top 6-Pack.

Let’s face it. There’s a lot that could have wrong with The Flash. Sure, the character has a rich history, but he could accurately be described as “a guy who runs real fast and occasionally punches a gorilla.” More so than other heroes, there’s some really silly stuff in the Flash’s tool bag. How they’ve managed to pull off such an amazing TV show with the source material is nothing short of magic. Here are some of the highlights.

6. The Suit

For a long time, there was an aversion to going “full costume” on superhero TV. Smallville very famously had a “no flights, no tights” policy. Even the Arrow went almost two seasons before he put on a mask. The Flash embraced its comic book roots right away with a very cool costume that’s practically big-screen quality. He’s straight up rocking the cowl and big-ass lightning bolts on his chest and ears. That’s amazing.

5. The Effects

The Flash is a testament to the special effect wizardry achievable on a TV budget. Along with the obvious lightning effects, they do some really fun and interesting things with Barry’s powers. The train rescue from the first Captain Cold episode looked amazing and there are plenty of little thing like Barry blurring his face or thumbing through a book of mug shots in seconds that are just cool. They’re creative uses of his powers executed in a very fun way. And Firestorm? Well…

4. Firestorm is Cool!

There aren’t many things more comic goofy than Firestorm. It’s two guys become one super powered fire guy when they combine. That sh*t is ridiculous, but somehow they made it work. They drug out Ronnie’s story just long enough to make us care and then they delivered big time. He looks really cool, too. The flame effects are movie quality in nearly every shot he’s in. The fact that little Macguffin machine makes his chest look like his comic book costume is just icing on the cake.

3. Grodd

We’ve seen Gorilla Grodd on TV. Nothing will ever be the same. So far, it’s been nothing more than a peek here and there, and the tension is building on the audience. Fans new and old are itching to see the impending showdown. It’s happening. The Flash will fight Grodd on primetime TV. This is not a drill.

2. Genuine Intrigue

We’ve mentioned the long game on Firestorm and Grodd and that’s only part of the bigger puzzle. The mystery behind Dr. Wells is the driving force behind the first season and the internet is full of theories (we have our favorites). There’s a lot going on beyond the freak of the week and it’s legitimately interesting. Wells isn’t a good guy, but is he going to end up being a bad guy?

1. It’s a Fun DC Adaptation!

Perhaps most shocking of all The Flash is a lot of fun. DC adaptations aren’t exactly known for being bright and shiny fun times, but The Flash kicks that trend in its ass. Not only does the show have its fair share of laughs, but Barry has a blast being The Flash. It’s a welcome change from the desaturated super serious tone of DC’s film slate (and Arrow to a lesser extent). DC/WB would do well to shoot for this tone on the potential Atom spinoff show.

It’s a bold new world with all kinds of super hero media beyond our beloved comic books and The Flash epitomizes everything they should strive to be. What say you, dear readers? What’s your favorite part of the CW’s newest hit?